Township gets major facelift

In 1999 Florence lost her job, a misfortune that ordinarily would signal disaster for a single parent. However, with her severance pay she opened a phone kiosk which has expanded and now employs two people.

Florence Shabalala is fast becoming an independent woman. She has her own business, enough money to send her only child to school and "a little bit for a rainy day".

"The only thing missing is a home of my own," she said. A wish that may soon become a reality, if all goes according to plan.

Already the construction trucks have moved in, and the foundations have been been laid. In one year, the South African government has promised that people who are now living in one of the country's most overcrowded townships will be able to move into new, properly serviced homes. A promise that Florence hopes will be fulfilled.

Today, however, she continues to live in a two-roomed makeshift shack with her three sisters and two younger brothers. Her best friend, Nozipho, lives next door to her. She lives with her grandmother, her mother and four siblings in a one-bedroom shack. Both women have welcomed the government-sponsored scheme to revamp Alexandra (Alex), one of South Africa's oldest townships.

The seven-year US $130 million Alexander Renewal Project (ARP) is aimed at rejuvenating the township, disparingly referred to as Dark City, because the only source of light just a few years ago was from candles.

Housing and planning are the ARP's first challenge. Shelter in Alex is a mix of 4,000 small and middle-class houses, three large hostels and 34,000 shacks. About 60,000 houses are to be built, restitution claims fixed, and the transfer of council houses finalised.

In addition to the suburban development, 20,000 units are being built in different parts of the old township. Most of these will be rental accommodation to cater for its transient population.

The developers have acquired land in the open areas surrounding Alex. But the biggest problem in Alex is that there are too many people for the available space.

The land on which Alexandra is situated was originally part of a farm owned by a certain Mr Papenfus. In 1904, he tried to establish a white township which he named after his wife Alexandra. The idea of a white township was rejected by the authorities because it was too far from the city.

Today, the area designed to accommodate 75,000 is now bursting with 350,000 residents because of its proximity to Johannesburg's posh northern suburbs, an important source of work.

The ARP includes the upgrading of infrastructure; the improvement of health and environmental surroundings, small business and street market activity; integrated transport and road networks; de-densification through relocations; building of new sites and the conversion of hostels into family units; job creation and security for the 350,000-strong community.

"Our aim is not to flatten Alexandra ... rather to rebuild it in accordance with acceptable environmental and urbanisation standards," said Mike Maile, the ARP project communications manager.

Maile added that as a result of the burgeoning population of Alex, desperate people erected housing structures in public spaces and on dangerous and life-threatening areas.

These included the banks of the Jukskei river and on top of storm-water drainage routes. Even on the busy London road, shacks spill onto sidewalks. Between flats that could otherwise offer reasonable low-cost housing, shacks have occupied all the open space.

"This posed both health and environmental risks not only for the people affected, but also for the delivery of services to residents. A number of schools, for example, cannot function efficiently when shacks are erected on their ground," said Maile.

He noted the challenge facing the project was the acquisition of more vacant land to provide room for additional housing projects. Neither the provincial nor the local authority can make much of a difference to social conditions until that changes.

"So the best solution for Alexandra will be that most people who need to be relocated will have to move out of the township," he said.

Developing a community is not only about houses and services. Once the necessary relocations are completed, other social infrastructure such as schools, transport, police stations and clinics can also be built. At the moment there is simply no space.

"We are busy determining where the need is greatest," said Maile.

Meanwhile, the redevelopment activity has already led to a boom in the retail sector. Pan-Africa, the main trading area is a bustle of taxis, hawkers and a row of formal shops that are always fully let.

Pavements that used to be blocked to shoppers by hawkers' stalls have been cleared and the walkway extended. An old church is being refurbished as the official gateway to Alex, where tourists may one day stop off.

A new justice precinct features a court house and refurbished police station.

The seven-year restoration project should eventually see all shacks gone, and a reduction in unemployment crime and violence.

That's the promise and the hope.